Archives for June 29, 2018

‘”Culturally, these are the guys that are going to change the organization around,” Taylor said. “You’re not going to bring an older guy in and all of a sudden the room changes. It starts within and I think it all starts with the draft. You see it even in the culture change from last year when I was here. I think it’s changed a lot coming into this year and guys seem a lot more eager and more happy.”‘

‘”Early on in the year I felt I was playing my game then I went through a tough 40-game stretch where I wasn’t doing much, wasn’t creating chances,” Sheary said. “I think I just got away from my game and lost a little confidence. An important thing in this game is to play with confidence and stick with your game. At the end of the year, I found myself again. I didn’t score in the playoffs, but I felt I was contributing and helping the team win.”‘

‘”You can just tell by his body and his maturity level and the way he composes himself,” Taylor said. “Every time he came down, it was easy for him. You can tell the guys that have been here two or three years and guys that are going to be at that next level quickly because they receive passes, they take passes, the passes are always on the tape. Their shots are different. How they skate, how they handle themselves, their body movements. Those guys are top first-round picks and there’s a reason for it.”‘

‘“The experience that I had there will help me tremendously,” Sheary said on a conference call Thursday. “I think if I can just bring a little of that experience, the playoff experience to the locker room, try to change the culture, I think that’ll be a good thing.”’

‘“I think a big part of my game is creating turnovers and getting chances for my linemates,” he added. “Hopefully, we can create some chemistry there. It’ll be awesome and maybe we’ll grow something with that.”’

‘Sheary won two Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh and he said he can bring that with him to Buffalo, “The experience I had there will help me tremendously and if I can bring just a little of that experience and playoff experience into the locker-room, try to change the culture, I think that will be a good thing.’

‘The Sabres can’t sign Hickey until July 1, but Jason Botterill said he’s comfortable that they’ll get something done. Hickey said, “I’m not sure yet, but you can’t look at it until the first of July, so I’ll have to see what goes on and see what they tell me in my meeting.”’

‘”Almost half the guys here are from Sweden so you can almost talk Swedish in the locker room to everybody now I feel like,” William Worge-Kreu said. “I know a bunch of guys back home play in the big league, like Lawrence Pilut and Victor Olofsson. These guys, it’s something I look up to so it’s really good, it’s helped a lot.”‘

‘“I thought it was pretty important for me to stay for the four years. Playing for Coach (David) Quinn was unbelievable. He’s a really good defensive minded coach. He does a good job with defenseman,” he said. “You look at the ‘08-‘09 national championship team and all six ‘D’ that played on that team, played in the NHL.’

‘”Brian played over 1,000 games. He was the captain of the Montreal Canadiens. He was the captain of the Buffalo Sabres — played for the Olympic team. You can’t have more experience on the ice,” Taylor said.’